Federal law enforcement agencies announced the results of a coordinated operation targeting drug trafficking and other cross-border criminal activity along the Texas-Mexico border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced the results of Operation Southern Surge during a press conference earlier this week in Laredo.
Since the operation began Oct. 19, authorities have reported 89 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,600 pounds of narcotics, 15 firearms, more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, and over $360,000 in illicit currency.
Among the confiscations, CBP officers at the Hidalgo Port of Entry discovered more than 1,082 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in a shipment of leeks. The discovery followed an alert from a K-9 unit, which led officers to inspect the shipment.
Officers found 909 packages that tested positive for methamphetamine. Authorities estimated the drugs had a street value of approximately $984,063.
In a separate incident at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, CBP officers referred a vehicle for secondary inspection after inspection technology detected an anomaly. Officers later discovered 49.3 pounds of cocaine concealed in 20 packages.
“Securing the border requires more than making seizures or stopping a single smuggling attempt,” said Acting Deputy Special Agent in Charge Charles Kerby of HSI Laredo. “HSI’s role is to follow the evidence, identify the people behind these crimes, and dismantle the organizations moving drugs, weapons, money, and people across the border.”
The operation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force, a multiagency initiative coordinating investigations and prosecutions targeting transnational criminal organizations and other cross-border criminal activity.
According to CBP, the task force brings together federal law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute criminal networks operating in the United States and abroad.
